House of Hades prologue
by jenthemockingjay
Summary: I just finished Mark of Athena, and just couldn't resist sharing what I think (or at least hope) will happen to Percy and Annabeth. **WARNING: If you haven't read Mark of Athena, spoilers ahead**
1. Chapter 1

Pain. That was the first thought that ran through Annabeth's brain after she hit the floor with a _thump_. She looked around, taking in her surroundings, and her heart dropped; darkness surrounded her, making her incapable of seeing even one foot in front of her.

Before she could do anything else, one thought surged through her brain: Percy. Before she could stop herself, she screamed, "Percy!" As soon as she screamed it, she knew it was a mistake. She could almost feel the darkness swallow her voice. She didn't remember much, but she did know that her and Percy fell for quite a while. He might not even be anywhere near her. For all she knew, they could be yards apart.

She swallowed a lump in her throat, feeling helpless, as she scolded herself. Not only was there a very small chance Percy heard her, but she also alerted every monster in the area of her whereabouts.

Not knowing what else to do, she slowly got up. "Fuck!" she yelled out. After everything that had happened, she still had a broken ankle. A searing pain shot through her leg, and she fell down almost immediately. She buried her face in her hands, on the verge of tears. Just when she thought she was going to break down, she heard a faint sound in the distance. "Annabeth?"

"Percy?" she whispered, not daring to scream again for the fear of what monsters could be lurking around them. "Annabeth!" he shouted. She saw a faint light about a yard away, and she realized Percy had uncapped Riptide, giving him a source of light. "Shut up, Seaweed Brain! You want to get eaten?" she whispered back. She could almost imagine him blushing, that little frown he did whenever he was embarrassed. She smiled, wanting nothing more than to see him. If anything gave her strength, it was being with Percy.

She could see the light moving closer as he whispered back, "Sorry." Before she knew it, Percy was kneeling beside her. "You okay?" he asked, holding her hand. "You mean besides falling into Tartarus, with a broken ankle, no weapon, and no way out? I'm great, you?" He rolled his eyes. "Annabeth, we're going to be fine." She laughed and shook her head. "Percy, what are we going to do?"

She looked around, and for the first time in her life, she felt extremely small and insignificant. Even during the Titan War, as impossible as it may have seemed, she always believed they had a fighting chance. Now, in the one place monsters were strongest, and no living creature was ever supposed to escape from, she really felt like they didn't have much of a chance.

"Percy," she said, pulling her hand out of his grasp, "I really don't know how much more we can take." "I told you," he replied, "We'll be fine. We're together, and that's all that matters." Before she had a chance to respond, he leaned in and kissed her. For a moment, she was able to forget about everything. Forget about being trapped in Tartarus, about the pain in her ankle, about Gaea rising, about her home, Camp Half-Blood, about to be destroyed. For just a moment, she was able to sit there, wrapped in the arms of the person she cared for more than anything else in world. When they finally pulled back, she felt as if a spark had been lit inside the pit of her stomach. Like they could actually make it out of here alive. And she was ready to kick some serious ass.

"You ready to get going?" he asked. She nodded, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. "On three. One, two, three!" He lifted her up off the ground, and she landed on her feet, lopsided, banging her broken ankle against the hard ground. She yelped out in pain - she couldn't help it. It felt as if Percy had just stabbed Riptide into her foot as hard as he could. The pain shot all the way up from her foot to her head, making her wobble in Percy's arms.

"Sorry," he said, and went to put her back down. "No!" she screamed, and whacked him so hard on the head that he practically fell over. "What's wrong with you, Seaweed Brain? If you put me back down, it'll only be that much harder to get back up!" He sighed. "Sorry, _again_," he said, steadying himself, momentarily making it easier to hold the weight of two people on his shoulders. She draped her hand across his chest, and was surprised to feel his heart almost jumping out of it. Up until now, he had tried so hard to be strong for the both of them, when inside he was actually terrified. She wanted to give up so badly, just lay down on the ground and wait for monsters to kill them, to put them out of their misery. But of course, she didn't. She was Annabeth Chase, and the last thing she was going to do was throw in the towel just because things weren't going their way. She took a deep breathe, wrapped her arms around Percy, and together they waded out into the darkness.

_Thanks for reading! I know it's not all too long, I'm new around here and wanted to give writing a go. **If you liked it, or didn't, a review would mean a ton. If I get a couple, I might even go on (I was thinking of going back to Nico, Leo, Jason, etc.) **_


	2. Chapter 2

Jason clutched the hand rail so tightly, his knuckles were white. He took deep breathes, trying to steady himself. It felt as if someone had grabbed a giant spoon and started stirring around his intestines. He was going to puke any second.

Him, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Frank, and Coach Hedge were on their way to Epirus, Greece. Apparently, that's where one entrance to the Doors of Death were located, and they weren't wasting any time. They needed to make sure they got there before Percy and Annabeth reached the other side of the door through Tartarus. _Percy and Annabeth._ Jason's insides started to churn again, and he started to suspect it was something more than the sea making him sick.

"You okay?" He turned around to see Nico DiAngelo standing in the middle of the deck of the Argo II, his eyebrows raised in concern. Jason had been so preoccupied with the events that had taken place over the last couple of hours, he had totally forgotten about the guy.

Jason nodded unconvincingly. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

Nico took a hesitant step foward, obviously not convinced he was okay. Up until then, Jason hadn't been able to get a good look at the kid, and it wasn't until then that he realized how much he had been through. His skin was pale white, stretched tightly around his bones, making him look old and worn out. There were bags under his eyes, and he kept slouching, barely able to keep himself upright. Guess that's what escaping from Tartarus and being on the brink of death for three days does to you.

Suddenly, Jason felt like a cry baby, whining over his sea-sickness after what Nico had just encountered. He held his hand out before Nico could get any closer.

"I'm fine, really. Go rest, you need it more than any of us."

He nodded, the appreciation clear in his eyes.

"Thanks," he said, and walked off to his cabin. Well, not really cabin. After Hazel had helped restore some energy into him, they had offered that he stay in Percy's room. He did, at least for a little while, until it eventually became unbearable. A couple of hours later, they found him passed out in the horse stalls, laying on a pile of hay.

All of a sudden, a wave lapped against the side of the ship, making Jason stumble and lose his grip on the railing. He clasped back onto it before he could fall over and vomitted over the side. He turned his head away, not wanting to see it splash into the water. It burned his throat, making it sore, and he struggled to swallow.

A pair of hands wrapped around Jason's waist, and he flinched, his ADHD instincts kicking in.

"Umm, Jason, you alright?" Piper. He sighed, relieved. If there was anyone he wanted to be with right now, it was her.

"Yeah, I'm fi-," he started to say, then stopped. She raised her eyebrows, and Jason knew lying to her wouldn't do him any good. She already knew he wasn't doing well. He shook his head.

"Okay, I'm not fine, but I will be. There are people in much worse situations than us."

Piper frowned, and he knew she was thinking the same thing he was. He shook his head, trying to change the subject.

"How are you doing? Okay?"

"Yeah, I guess I'm doing as good as I can, in our situtation."

She stopped talking, and Jason went to say something, and realized... He didn't have anything to say. Ever since they had landed at Camp Jupiter, him and Piper hadn't really spent any time together. Suddenly, Jason felt extremely guilty.

"Piper, I'm sorry."

She looked up at him, her mouth gaped open in amazement.

"Jason, you don't really blame yourself for wh-,"

"No! No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about... I'm sorry about us."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, ever since we started this quest, I haven't really been there for you. I mean, we haven't even spent any time together."

She smiled weakly. "Jason, you don't have to apologize. We're all really caught up in the whole _saving the world_ thing."

He shook his head, slipping her hands out from around his waist and holding them in his own.

"No, Piper, I'm serious. I-,"

Before he could finish, Leo came bursting onto the deck, sweating and panting.

"Guys... we... have... a problem," he managed to say between breathes.

Without waiting for a response, he took off, Jason and Piper on his heels.

_**(Line break)**_

Jason laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It turned out that the "big emergency" Leo had interrupted them for was a couple of dolphins swimming around. Apparently, they got too close and made Festus nervous, thus leading to Leo running to get them, and Coach Hedge running around screaming "Die!"

This whole event ended in Coach Hedge grumpily sending everyone to bed early. They all knew he was in a bad mood since he wasn't able to hit any monsters over the head with his baseball bat.

So, after saying goodbye to Piper, Jason had skulked to his room, unable to fall asleep. Could anyone on board? Even though no one wanted to admit it, it was highly unlikely Percy and Annabeth survived the fall to Tartarus. Even if they did, they could be dead any minute.

He rolled over, slamming his face into his pillow, frustrated. Everything was a mess. Percy and Annabeth, gone - the Argo II so banged it Jason felt as if they were going to sink any minute, although Leo kept insisting that "Archimedes blueprints were going to change everything!" - him and Piper as distanced from each other as ever - and then there was the whole Hazel, Frank, and Leo thing. Jason didn't know exactlywhat was going on with them. All he knew was that they were a time bomb of teenage hormones, and he wanted to stay as far away from that drama as possible.

Jason rolled onto his back, sighing. He thought briefly about going to see Piper... _No_. He remembered how Coach Hedge had reacted when Percy and Annabeth snuck out at night. _No, it wasn't worth it._

So instead, he rolled over and closed his eyes. And, after pushing all his thoughts into the back of his mind, he was finally able to drift off to sleep.

_**Thanks for reading! I tried to make this one a little longer than the first chapter. My guess is they will gradually get longer as the story goes along as I get more comfortable with it. **_

_**Any feedback, good or bad is greatly appreciated. Like I said before, I'm new around here and, for the most part, have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Anyways, I'll update as soon as I can! **_


End file.
